German court invalidates Apple’s ‘slide to unlock’ patent

Germany’s Federal Patent Court on Thursday ruled that Apple’s (AAPL) “slide to unlock” patent is invalid, marking a significant victory for Android vendors. The company proposed 14 amendments in an effort to salvage the patent, however the court found that the action of “unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image” didn’t meet certain requirements under European patent law and as such was not patentable. According to Florian Mueller of Foss Patents, Thursday’s ruling can be appealed and Apple is expected to do so. The company previously used its slide to unlock patent to have Motorola’s products banned in Germany and filed a similar suit against Samsung.